Page 185 of Poison Vows

“I-I don’t know what to say,” she mumbles. “I never thought she’d go to those lengths…”

Listening to her makes me so mad, I can’t stand it. I need to get out of here.

“I didn’t come here to reminisce about your stellar motherhood skills,” I state. “I want the truth about everything.”

Beverly’s now exhausted eyes look up at me.

“I knew this day would come.”

“Can you sound any more like a failed villain in some cheap movie?” I snap, annoyed beyond belief. “Tell me, after you did all that crap, did you think you’d be here today?”

Beverly has the sense not to look at me when she shakes her head.

“I know you won’t believe me, Ivy, but this was never my intention,” she says, clutching her chest. “I never meant to cause you this much harm, and now you’re married to that…”

“You can’t be serious,” I say, shocked. “You practically sold me to them! And now you’re stunned by the results? Are you all right in the head?”

To my shock, tears actually well up in her eyes when she looks at me.

“Ivy, it wasn’t as simple as you thought. I know you were disappointed when you came here to find all this, but I kept you back in Westbrook Blues for a reason.”

“Your daughter found me easily enough!”

“Yes, I don’t know how she did it. Obviously she had been prying into my affairs. By the time I found out, she had already lured you here.”

I was right, the entire thing was a trap.

“Do Samuel and Grammy know you’re still alive?” I ask outright.

Beverly’s facial features fall, like she’s in immense pain.

“Yes.”

“Does she know you married a vicious, cunning man that wasn’t my father at all?”

Beverly remains silent for a while. “No.”

“Why not? Don’t tell me you were ashamed? A woman of your character would never be moved by such petty things as shame.”

“God, Ivy, it’s much more than that.”

I scoff, unable to believe my ears. “You know what, whatever excuse you have for all this, keep it to yourself. I don’t want to hear it.”

I’m not putting on a facade.

I really don’t want to hear her excuses and made-up sympathy catchers curated to make me submit and accept her nonsense without question. That’s gaslighting.

Is there a reason that’s good enough to clarify this woman’s actions?

“I just didn’t want Theodore to know about my mother. I lied to him that she died along with my father that night…”

The night of the accident.

“You know how Gramps died?” I whisper, my chest aching. “Did you also know that your husband, the man that made you a trophy wife, was responsible for it?”

“I only found out later,” she cries now, tears running unchecked down her cheeks. “My God, Ivy, I never thought he’d do such a thing!”

“No? But you were perfectly all right with him selling me. You even participated.”

---